This recipe is different than your usual muffin recipe. As with all of the recipes I made this week, it requires soaking your grains overnight. The reason for doing this is that it breaks down the phytates in the grains, which makes them much more digestible and the nutrients much more readily absorbed. For more information about this, see this article.
And now, back to the recipe:
Apple Cinnamon Muffins Recipe
Ingredients
Basic Muffin Recipe
- 3 cups flour I use spelt, you could also use whole wheat, kamut, or other alternative grains
- 2 cups buttermilk kefir or yogurt
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 cup maple syrup I used honey, and added a little more than 1/4 cup- I find this recipe not quite sweet enough for my husband's liking
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp. melted butter
Apple cinnamon variation:
- Add 2-3 apples grated or diced, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/8 tsp cloves, 1/8 tsp nutmeg (and raisins would also be good, but I didn't have any)
Instructions
- Add the flour to a large bowl, stir in your choice of cultured dairy until well mixed, then cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place and leave for 12-24 hours (the longer, the better). The recipe notes that if you have dairy allergies, you can substitute 2 cups of water with 2 Tbsp of either whey, lemon, or vinegar instead, for soaking the flour.
- Blend in remaining ingredients.
- Pour into well-buttered muffin tins, filling about 3 quarters full. Bake at 325 C for about 1 hour, or until toothpick comes out clean. (Note- I find this recipe makes an odd amount, around 15 muffins, so it would be more convenient to double it.) Also, note that soaked flour recipes take longer to bake than traditional baking recipes- they really do need the full hour, occasionally a little longer!
Notes
Taken from the Basic Muffin recipe in Nourishing Traditions
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Laura
January 21, 2008 at 7:01 AMFantastic, thanks for sharing it!!!
Mrs. Taft
January 23, 2008 at 1:51 PMThis looks delicious, thanks for sharing the recipe!
Emma
August 18, 2010 at 1:05 AMGreat, can’t wait to try these. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Emma
August 25, 2010 at 4:52 PMHey I was just thinking, you probably meant to say bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit, rather than Celsius. It works out to be about 170 degrees Celsius.
Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home
August 25, 2010 at 8:27 PM@Emma, Yes, you’re right that it’s F not C. Thanks for catching that!
Emma
August 25, 2010 at 7:37 PMOK, so I’ve had an epic fail. My muffins turned out blackened on the outside but still gooey in the middle. I turned the heat down to 150 C when I saw they were going black, but it didn’t seem to help. What could I have done wrong? I used 1/3c honey and 3 apples. Do you think I had too many liquid ingredients?
Stephanie
August 25, 2010 at 8:27 PM@Emma, Possibly. Were your apples quite big and juicy? That and the little bit of extra honey could have pushed it over the edge with being too liquid?
Also, honey darkens faster than other sweeteners, so you do have to really watch it and sometimes adjust the temperature while it’s cooking.
The other question would be did you soak the grains for a full 12 hours? Soaking them sufficiently is part of what allows the recipe to not be too goopy. If they don’t get the soaking time, then I could see them not baking properly. It’s part of the method, the long soak and then the long bake.
Learning to bake soaked recipes does take a bit of experimentation sometimes, unfortunately. I have had a good number of fails, too, if it makes you feel better! 🙂
Kelly L.
April 30, 2013 at 7:44 AMIf I don’t have any buttermilk, kefir, or yoghurt on hand can I use milk with vinegar?